


Our Beginnings

by Duchesse



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Hugging, Hurt, M/M, Reader Insert, Romance, Snuggling, reader interactive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 19:43:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18901378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duchesse/pseuds/Duchesse
Summary: The world seemed to collapse around you, and yet he never faltered. You wavered at times, believing his sweet words to be nothing but a wistful fantasy. Following Viren’s imprisonment and facing the brunt of Opeli’s suspicion, he found it the opportune time to finally meet you.[Aaravos/Reader].





	Our Beginnings

Perhaps it would ultimately be to your detriment that you understood the interwoven passageways through the castle to the capacity that you did. The guards assumed that the discovery of the dungeons that Viren kept sealed away that they would just as easily find the rest. It was some type of fortune on your side that you had come under little scrutiny since Viren’s imprisonment, though your feelings often waned on that when in Opeli’s presence.

“You are Viren’s apprentice, you have been for nearly a decade. Do you expect me to believe that you don’t have some sort of knowledge of the whereabouts of different passages? What is he planning?” Opeli offered little but a slither of space between your bodies, noses close to touching. “You swore your loyalty to Katolis- this kingdom. To do anything else would be treason.”

“Just because I’ve practiced magic under Viren doesn’t mean he divulges his secrets to me, Opeli.” You insisted, splaying your arms away from your body to gesture around the room. “What? Do you think there’s a secret door under my dresser? Oh- wait, what about a chute underground behind my family portrait. Is that what you’re wanting me to confess to? Crimes and things I know nothing about? Where is the justice in that?”

Opeli jolted upright, shoulders taut as the creases in her face deepened and darkened. “Know your place. I want to believe you have nothing to do with Viren’s behavior, but look at it from my angle.”

“I am. I get it, I do.” You gave an exasperated sigh, digging your heel into the carpet behind you to ease some distance between your bodies. As you faced from her, eyes trained ahead falteringly at the tall window overlooking the west wing of the castle, you hoped this would all be enough to get her off your tail. “Have some faith in me. Have some faith in our friendship. Everything I have done has been in the interest of Katolis and her people.”

The room went still with those words, inviting the impatient clatter of armor from the guards waiting outside the doors. You kept your gaze as steadfast as you were able to manage, though you could hear your heart thrumming wildly in your ears, against your chest, while the centipede beneath the collar of your robes fidgeted.

Aaravos’ voice was faint, so minuscule that you couldn’t completely discern what was being said. You thought they were sweet, smooth praises for your tenacity. As it was, Opeli had no chance of hearing the whispers from the caterpillar, yet it wasn’t a risk you were wanting to take all the same.

At last, you heard the scuff of her robes and the short heels of her boots striking the floor as they carried her briskly towards the doors. “Viren said the same thing, you know. And look where it got him?”

You winced at the pair of doors slamming shut behind her, the locks rattling before a deafening, heavy click to signify your own imprisonment for the time being. Unlike Viren who in shackles far beyond where warmth could reach, you were simply assigned to stay put until further notice. The questioning wouldn’t end there; Opeli’s next visit would be worse, her methods to expel information to you little less savory.

“Yes, you did phenomenally.” The caterpillar cuffed against your ear, its mandibles moving slowly as Aaravos’ voice murmured. “Now, you must return to me. Come back to the dungeon so we may finish this.”

For a moment, your feet stayed rooted to where you stood observing the soldiers meandering the grounds outside your window. The thought crossed your mind that perhaps this wasn’t right. You had seen what happened to Viren with the help of Aaravos’ power; the man nearly lost control of himself, and now he sat in dank darkness in a tiny stone cell.

He was considered a traitor, and you were under speculation of being an accomplice. This wasn’t where you wanted to be.

“Why haven’t you come to me? Do you have doubts?” Again, the little creature on your ear stirred as though to try to coax you into moving. “Do you doubt… us?”

You were tempted to flick the little shit off you at this point. “I never said that. Give me a minute to just get my bearings. Viren is locked up and looking hellish, and you’ve been running me ragged since then. I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore.”

“Why, we’re assuring a better future for Katolis, aren’t we? Isn’t that all Viren wanted?” Aaravos’ voice never changed much; always patient and composed, almost as though he had done this before. “Isn’t this what you want as well? For us to finally be together?”

His words yanked at your chest, tightening a vise around your heart. You wanted to believe in him and everything he had told you in the time since discovering him in the mirror. This longing and unflappable love he had for you; you wanted it be as true as your own feelings.

Still, there was something that lingered in the recesses of your mind; it was a chill so thorough you felt it seep through your blood and veins and into your bones. As much as you yearned for nothing but wholehearted trust between you both, even you couldn’t turn a blind eye to something being amiss with all of this.

After some time, you replied, “I’m coming down. Give me some time.”

“Excellent,” he whispered.

Navigating the passageways through the castle had become trickier than you anticipated. Guards drifted in and out of the rooms you traversed from behind the walls, eyes occasionally finding the peepholes in paintings and furniture to gauge your next move. If there was something you could on, it was Opeli staying true to her word and carrying out a thorough search throughout the castle for any more hidden ways.

It took some work to find the room where Opeli had moved the mirror. As protocol for handling situations such as Viren’s, their belongings were confiscated for further examination. It had been tucked away into an obscured corridor, into an even more inconspicuous storage closet.

You were able to jar a pair of false stones in the wall, free from the weight of the foundation and carefully dropped down from the height to your feet, staggering to catch your balance. The mirror was braced against the stone, a musty cloth with mold stains just covering the glass face. As you ripped the thin sheet from it, you forced back a cough in your throat from the plumes of dust that spiraled into the air from the floor.

Aaravos roused from the other side, lifting his eyes away from the thick novel with withered, yellow pages. The smile he invited on his lips was a little more than what you were used to, his eyes wrinkling at the corners. “I’ve been waiting for you, my love.”

You could not think to smile back at him right now, instead aiming to further the progress of the ritual that had been interrupted before Viren’s capture. You shrugged the straps from your old knapsack from your shoulders and crouched to the floor, carefully spreading the items out before him.

“This has to work, Aaravos. If Opeli notices I’m gone, then there’s no hope,” you explained, throwing a number of knives to the ground as though to weigh the severity of your own crimes. “No one will be able to help you, then.”

Aaravos eased himself to the floor so his eyes were level with your own, his smile both a beacon of light and hope for you at this point, as well a source of your fear. This would be the first time you worked with Aaravos alone; Viren had been present for everything else, a guiding hand and source of reason up until the end. Your time with Aaravos before had been senselessness- sweet words, secret desires, and his promises of grandeur.

Once he held the narrow blade against his palm, holding it above the first chalice in the row, a mysterious weight cradled your shoulders. Your chest constricted while the grip on your own knife seemed to lessen. “I’m afraid, Aaravos. What will happen after we do this?”

“Everything we’ve spoken of, dreamed of together.” His eyes floated towards the knife as he dug it into his palm, lifting it away so the blood dripped into the chalice. “Viren asked me for my help, so that’s what I shall do. And then you and I, we can be together at last.”

The pattern continued the same; one chalice after another until it reached the last one. You mirrored his motions as he situated the rest in a circle, gently lowering the empty cup in the center. His fingers lingered atop of it, tracing the coarse rim as his eyes lifted to meet your own. “Did you bring what I asked for?”

You produced a vial from the chest pocket of your robes, pinching it between your fingers as you flipped the viscous liquid inside for him to see. “What will happen when we do this? What will happen to Viren?”

“Your heart is captivating, even now. Viren will remain unharmed.” He straightened his back, palms resting on his thighs, indicating to your chalice with the tilt of his chin. “Does your heart sound the same as my own? I want to come to you. Pour it.”

The blood in the vial moved slowly through the glass tube as you considered his words. You could hardly fathom that this was going to happen, that you could exist with him- touch him. The doubt that clouded your heart mattered little to you now as you carefully uncorked the top and flipped the vial upside down.

It dripped into the chalice slowly, each drop set his own aglow with a soft, purple halo around the rim. You felt as though your eyes were pried wide; indefatigable while he worked hastily to add powders that glittered and ground crystals and stone against the walls the chalice.

He held it up by the thick stem, swirling the contents for a moment as though admiring his work, casting you wide, taut smile before bringing the rim to his lips and draining the concoction in one go. Your stomach coiled uncomfortably at the sight, just by the knowledge of what went inside of it.

In truth, you had expected something grand to occur after a ritual as thorough as that. Some type of impenetrable smoke, or deafening rattle from the mirror was the expected outcome, rather than the mirror fading to a pitch black, swallowing Aaravos inside that abyss.

You glanced towards the door leading into the hallway, cautiously scuttling closer to the mirror once you were on your feet again. The skin around your fingernails bled as you fiddled with your hands. It had crossed your mind to call out to him, but you couldn’t encourage the words forward from your throat.

Instead you reached towards the mirror, nearly jerking your hand back into your face when your fingertips slipped through the mirror instead of bending against cool glass. The black void rippled when you touched it, mimicking the water over the pond when you would dance your fingers across it like tiny fairies.

You felt nothing; it was like grabbing empty air at night. It coaxed you to step closer, pushing your hand deeper inside, watching as your wrist floated around outside it. With worry wrinkling your brow, you slowly began to recede, deciding that there must have had been a flaw in the ritual.

Something was off.

A guttural grunt of surprise escaped you when another hand wound your own, grip fastening like a vise until it nearly hurt. You backpedaled from the mirror, arm pulled taut between your reality and the obscurity of the mirror.

“Ah, I can touch you at last.”

Your breath snagged in your chest when you heard his voice. It came from the mirror and not the caterpillar still cradling your ear. Gradually, the pull against your arm loosened until your eyes caught the flash of glittering starlight. One boot landed on your side, his robes fluttering around his body as he stepped forward from the mirror, bowing his head away from the top of the mirror as he crossed.

The black ripples from before had grown turbulent; crashing against the frame of the mirror like waves against the belly of a ship, easing only once he had completely passed through. You weren’t sure what to look at, him or the bizarre mirror beginning to stir again.

“I’ve waited for this moment for so long.” He whispered, turning the back of your hand towards his lips, lightly grazing them across your knuckles. “This is all thanks to you.”

You felt his other hand curl around your neck while his thumb skimmed your cheek, luring your eyes toward his face for the first time since he emerged from the mirror. To say that you were overwhelmed to have him here in front of you would be an understatement. You were engulfed with a simultaneously desire to hold him and never let go, yet something as equally compelling tempted you to move away.

“Aaravos,” you wet your lips with your tongue, reluctantly resting your hand atop the one which held your neck. In spite of the the flecks that glittered on his arms, his skin was smooth to the touch and warm, not at all like the cold reflection you felt night after night. He no longer felt like a figment of your deepest wishes. “I… how am I supposed to feel right now? How?”

His smile was a sight to behold in your eyes, though as ambiguous as it always was. Your body went rigid as he stepped into your, reeling your face against this chest while his other arm wound your back to hold you to him. “How long has it been since I’ve touched another person, felt this warmth?”

Your heart hammered against your ribs, and you thought you could hear his own like a strong pulse in your ears. Heat crept up your neck as he ducked his head to your shoulder, nestling his face against your neck. When he spoke again, his voice rumbled, “My nights, my dreams have only consisted of this moment.”

“It’s hard to believe you’re here.” You said, bracing your arms and palms against his back, bodies flush to another. “I started to believe you were just a dream. That what I saw in the mirror was just… something I wanted.”

His breath fanned across your neck, feathering upward slowly to caress the shell of your ear. “I am real, and now I have you.”

You wondered how lonely it had been for him to be trapped into that mirror, how long he had gone without something as simple as a handshake- a hug, perhaps even a kiss. Isolation was an unfathomable cruelty in and of itself; it was enough to change anyone.

Every so often he moved his arms around you, swept his hand across your shoulders or your face as though burning the memory of your warmth, the texture and divots in your flesh. Meanwhile you were still entranced by his very existence and the speckles across his body and clothes; he was almost ethereal, something that was never meant to be touched.

You felt a gush of cold air on your body as he opened a gap between you, though just enough so where you could see the marking beneath his eyes emitting a faint glow and the minuscule dots scattered throughout. They were mesmerizing, luring you to reach towards his face and trace your fingertips across his skin, testing the spots that glimmered. Further down, your gaze rested on his lips, seemingly a perpetual smile of some kind, especially now.

“To our beginnings, my love.” His breath felt hot against your mouth as he spoke, lowering and fading to nothing as he pressed lips against yours eagerly, inviting the warmth of his body to yours once more. Your arms cuffed beneath his, fingers splaying across his back to hold yourself as near to him as you could.

Beyond your eyes, far from the foremost concerns in your mind, the mirror had changed again. Through the depths of darkness, a pale hand reached through and curled against the glass.


End file.
